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Kewill completes acquisition of India-based Four Soft

By Jeff Berman, Group News Editor
October 09, 2013

Following its mid-August announcement saying that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Four Soft, a developer and marketer of logistics solutions for logistics services providers, manufacturers, and retailers, multimodal transportation software provider Kewill said this week that the deal is now officially completed.

Based in Hyderabad, India, Four Soft has more than 400 customers and 60,000 users in 120 countries. With this deal now official, Kewill gains all of Four Soft’s assets and subsidiaries, including more than 500 employees. And in conjunction with Kewill it is now a combined business with more than $110 million (USD) in revenue and 7,500 customers in more than 100 countries.

“The acquisition is part of our strategic plan to significantly grow the Kewill business over the next five years,” said Evan Puzey, Chief Marketing Officer, Kewill, in a recent interview. “By bringing together two of the industry’s leading organizations, Kewill will have a greater global presence with increased domain expertise allowing us to support a larger and ever increasing customer base, with a broader set of products. At the completion of this acquisition, Kewill will have enhanced products, technology and domain skills, which will significantly improve our market leading position.”

When asked what the biggest benefits of this deal are for shippers, Puzey explained that it will extend Kewill’s product portfolio and further enhance its technology stack, allowing Kewill to continue to provide best-of-breed applications more efficiently and effectively to the logistics service providers involved in the supply chain.

He added that the acquisition reinforces its Multimodal Transportation leadership position in the Supply Chain Execution software market, as well as enhances Kewill’s product portfolio for Logistic Service Providers, Retailers and Manufacturers.

In terms of mutual benefits this deal brings to both parties, Kewill officials explained that Four Soft brings leading edge software to benefit the recently released Kewill MOVE, a new platform designed to manage the complexities of transportation, logistics, and trade compliance and supports the key business practices for optimized value in supply chain execution while shifting Chelmsford, Mass.-based Kewill to an enterprise software platform provider.

And with Four Soft part of the Kewill family, Kewill gains a 300-employee India-based software innovation center that is well-experienced in the multimodal transportation domain, coupled with the addition of Four Soft’s J2EE framework focused on more efficient code creation, according to Kewill.

“The acquisition of Four Soft is a strategic move by Kewill that we believe will deliver immense value to our customers, partners, employees, and shareholders,” said Bob Farrell, President and
CEO at Kewill, in a statement. “With this acquisition we have put in place the foundation to support organic growth over the coming years, as well as the resourcing and skills necessary to quickly deliver new applications and functionality to the market as the needs of our customers evolve.”

About the Author

Jeff BermanGroup News Editor

Jeff Berman is Group News Editor for Logistics Management, Modern Materials Handling, and Supply Chain Management Review. Jeff works and lives in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, where he covers all aspects of the supply chain, logistics, freight transportation, and materials handling sectors on a daily basis. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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